The Irish standard., 1887-07-09
The VIRGIN MhRY'S WELL
An Interesting Spot Described by Hon
A. M. Kelley in the I.C.
B. U. Journal.
THE CITY OF THE SUN,
Named by the Old Egyptians "0N,' Often
Mentioned in the Old Testament, and
by the Greeks, Helicpolis.

lows from Cairo on May 16, to the T. G
b. U. Journal:
On the eastern bank Of the Nile, an
excellent road lined with the shady and
graceful libhekh tree. which has proved
such blessing in Egypt, was laid out
in the summer Of 1869, by the late Khe.
dive, Ismail Pasha> HOW in exile, partly
as way of access to one Of his many
palaces, but also to facilitate the visit
Of her Majesty, the Empress of France,
ofwhonn he was very fond, to the inter-
esting relic | VIII soon describe.
l took carriage after "tiAin," one
evening last week: and started in q
North Eastern direction over this hand
some road. An hours drive brought
me to a spot on which once stood one Of
the handsomest cities the world ever
saW--tbe rival Of Memphis and Thebes
and even Babylon itself, the chief seat
of perhaps the oldest and most widely
spread and deeply rooted Of all the re.
liglons Of the earth the worship OF the
San. Yet to-day the most curious travel.
ler can find no trace but one of the pomp
and magniiicence Of the great city to
which the wisest of the Greeks came, in
the very dawn OF their learning, TO be
taught call the wisdom CT the Egyp-
tlans"-the city named bY the old Egyp-
tians ION" often mentioned i'll the Old
Testament and by the Greeks, He]iopo-
lis--tl,e city OF the Sun. The site of its
temples and palaces is now covered
with fields OF millet, plantations of
olive treea, and extensive vineyards,
conquered from the desert by the pain
full laEor of the 'tfeilaheen," who with
the rudest possible appliances purop up
from deep wells the water required for
irrigation. and without which an Ara.
bian desert would, in q few years, cover
with its pail Of yellow sand every trace
of the labor and achievements Of man.
knew there WIS one exception to the
universal destruction, and in this level
land L was certain not to miss it. Soon
my eye rested on 1.-THE obelisk of Hell
iopoIis.
1t stands in a little thicket Of dwarf
trees, on the western side OF the road
and vered for eight or ten feet with
the mud Of many Nile oyert1ows. Not
a yestige OF the work of architect or
mason bears it company, 1t lifts its
mighty head--a single stone Of polished
red granite. 10 feet nearly in height.
With one exception, it is the oldest in
the world; and it bears On it's face the
proof of lhe skill of the caryers Of that
ancient date. for though the inscription
OH each OF it's four sides show its date
to be nearly cotemporaneous with the
deluge. the figures are rs clear as any
carved yesterday.
There is nothing of the confusion and
illegibility of the figures on the obelisk
in Central Park, whose soft sandstone
cuts easily and crumbles as readily.
This obehsk is made OF rhe red granite
of Assouan, su that it must have jour
neyed 500 miles before it was placed
here; and no Virginia or Vermont
granite is harder. The figures are in
cised, as are, without exception, all the
engraved works / have seen in Egypt;
and they are large, bold and deeply cut;
their simplicity bearing historic wit
ness to their antiquity. The sides were
SO superbly polished that two Of them
glitter to-day as if the mason's hand
had just left them; but, curiously
enough the figures Of the other two
are concealed for half the height by the
earthern homes Of swarms Of bees,
which have patiently daubed the shaft
with the Nile mud, and then carved
their hives in the plastered surface; but
on two alone, for reasons known
only to the bees. Once there was a
twin obelisk, for the ancient Egyptians
always erected them in pairs, and prob
ably placed them at the portals of their
sun temples, representing, as they did.
the rays of the sun; but the sister shaft
has gone, and no trace of it exists.
There is something approaching the
pathetic in the spectacle of this solitary
stone guarding the memories of forty
centuries, around whose base all the
history of man has flowed from the day
that Babel was builded till our own.
AS thought of the mighty and in
Vulnerable changes of the earth which
have happened since this pr ,duct of old
handicraft has remained un-
moved, recall that touching story of
Southey's Of the stranger who stood en-
raptured before one of Muri!lo's won.
derful Virgins, in Spanish Convent.
While wrapped in contemplation and
admiration, a venerable monk, bowed
and gray, approached and said:
You are entranced, my son, and